June 30, 2021

Waterloo Takeaways

While I wasn't fussed about the low scores at Waterloo, it did leave me with a couple of nagging feelings I wanted to sort out.

The first was that I wanted some validation from my trainer that I should really be showing Second. Her students normally get higher scores than my low-to-mid-60s, and I found myself dreaming of the 70s we are no doubt capable of if I'd just drop back down to First. And I know she would not BS me about this.

Unrelated: I want to take a moment to appreciate how freaking well the Fairfax (F/S) browband fits around his head.

"Absolutely, Second is where you should be," she said when I asked in my lesson last week. "Don't let last weekend get you down. It was incredibly tough going on Saturday with all the standing water, and then on Sunday the horses were all tired, probably from slogging through the mud on Saturday. And the judges didn't go easy on people."

Uh, yeah, he was tired on Sunday

While that does make me feel better, it also makes me feel like Second is just not going to be Connor's jam, which I've heard people say is true for some horses. The good news is we've achieved just about all that I want at Second, so at some point she'll say "Hey, it's time to look at Third." We know the flying changes came more easily to him than simple changes, even with CGP in the irons, so here's hoping we can put Second behind us for good soon.

Misty horse show mornings in Michigan

Second, I know I need to start focusing on Connor's fitness. We can't make Dressage any easier for him than one test per day, and in order to score well he can't be behind my leg. Riding in a lake is out of my control, but increasing his work capacity is something I can do.

The body is strong, the work capacity is weak

I had already planned on adding in 20-30 minutes of walking a few times a week when I saw Lauren Sprieser's blog published last week about talking to Jimmy Wofford about how to condition Dressage horses safely. Her plan included 20-30 minutes of walking 3x a week on hills using Equibands. 

"Oh my god are you kidding me?" - Connor probably

So that's what we're doing. One loop of our (rather hilly, for our area) property takes Connor 15 minutes, 20 if I add in the front pasture, and I put his Scoot Boots on so we could leverage the gravel driveways as well. (He's very sound on gravel, but I want to avoid finding "a rock with his name on it" in the middle of show season, as Dr. Marks would say) 

Ideally I'd like to find a way to do 20 minutes of this in the morning and then a schooling ride in the evening, at least through the summer, but we'll see if I can swing that with my schedule.


Finally, after Waterloo I emailed the NDPC show secretary and asked to add a tack stall to my entry for the first time in my life. They've always felt like such an unnecessary and expensive luxury to me, mainly showing at the HHP where my trailer is never more than 50ft from my stall and where I can wait out rain delays from the comfort of my own home if I feel like it. 

But after Waterloo, I had to admit that my teammates had the right idea with their tack stalls. They had a comfy place to hang out, a place to change clothes that wasn't a porta-potty and their show setups were very organized with lots of space to spread things out. Plus, I'm going to have an entire entourage of friends with me at Pony Cup and I don't think we'll be able to fit all those chairs in front of the stall front alone, lol. It's a GREAT problem to have!

Going forward, at least the first time I show in a new and unfamiliar place, I'll be getting a tack stall, but I still can't imagine wasting that money while showing "at home"!

14 comments:

  1. This may be a silly question, but can y'all share a tack stall? That is what we do at hunter shows. The bigger barns get a stall for grooming and then one or two tack stalls. If you are showing with friends it would encourage hanging out, share the expense and you'd have a tack space!
    I love your walking plan! I plan to do that when I start getting Simon fit for hunt season.

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    1. Definitely not for Pony Cup since I'm showing alone there, but potentially in the future. Although everyone at my trainer's barn had their own at the last show, so that may not be something this particular barn does, I'm not sure.

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  2. ha i wrote about conditioning today too, tho i'm stepping down our intensity vs stepping up.... definitely such a big subject, and surprisingly complicated. sounds like a great plan for Connor! re: the scheduling for trying to get out for twice daily rides, i honestly felt like i got just as good results for tacking on the 20min conditioning rides as a before or after phase to my schooling rides, rather than needing to do them separately.

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    1. It is surprisingly complicated. I've thought about doing it before or after, but before and I'd run the risk that he wouldn't have the energy for the level of work I need during our schooling rides, and after feels a little cruel to make him work in the bands after he's already worked so hard during the schooling ride. So I don't know, I might be overthinking it, but I don't have a good answer there.

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  3. I didn't realize Connor was barefoot - very cool! Definitely do want to do everything you can to avoid that one awful angled rock though.

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    1. Oh yes, he's got absolute textbook perfect feet and has never had a shoe in his life. It's one of the hallmarks of his breeder's breeding program, they all have these huge, flawless feet. My college professor (I majored in equine studies) said there should be a picture of Castleberry Cob feet in the medical literature next to an anatomical drawing of the ideal foot!

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  4. I love hillwork for putting on the conditioning without a lot of wear and tear. I also really like the european model for schooling horses which unfortunately does not work for the average amateur (which is the split schedule like you are considering - a lot easier if you live nearby but still a time suck!)

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    1. Yes it is a time suck. I'm truly not sure I'll be able to swing it, but we'll see!

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  5. Bridget is probably the least naturally galloping horse on the planet, and a split schedule like you're thinking of is what finally got her fit enough to go even low level xc. Our big hill is about 15 min to the to the top at a walk and very steep, 30 min round trip, so she did that until we could trot it. We had heart rate monitors on the upper level horses and they got the same cardio workout uphill at trot as doing gallop sets in the field. I didn't know to pay extra attention on the down hills, to have the horses on a contact and really sitting - I kind of treated it like break time until someone corrected me - uphill for cardio, downhill for muscle building :D Sorry for the novel, I find this stuff really interesting. (B has been barefoot for life too! Love these cob feet!)

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    1. Oh yes, I have to pay close attention to the downhills or else Connor turns into a noodle lol. A long time ago my old trainer actually had me spend an entire lesson on a very shallow downhill, trying to keep his butt behind his shoulders and keep him engaged. Connor said "That is very hard!"

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  6. Yes, splurge for the tack stall. That's one advantage of showing with a big hunter/jumper barn (we all split it), but it's really key for our show setups. I don't think you'll regret it.

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    1. I definitely won't. I have a feeling in STL my truck and trailer are going to be NOWHERE near my stalls, lol. It'll be nice!

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  7. My college barn never got a tack stall, and I don't remember the one with Hero getting one either, if we did it was mostly just to store feed and hay. My new barn usually gets one or two depending on how many horses we have going, and I've grown to appreciate having a place to groom, tack up, and wrap legs without getting dust from shavings all over everything.

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  8. Elementary/Elementary-Medium (2nd) was a real slog for me, too. Now that Thunder is touching on Medium (3rd), the tests honestly feel easier at this point instead of harder. Simple changes suck, man.

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